Interview with Indie Author Seán O’Connor

I have had the privilege of developing a great friendship with fellow Indie author Seán O’Connor over the past year, as well as reading both of his horror novellas, his startling award nominated debut, “The Mongrel”, and his horrific and brilliantly conceived follow up, “Weeping Season” (available for pre-order now through his website).

We met through Instagram, which has been a perfect place to meet other authors, readers and fans of horror, and began taking a keen interest in one another’s work. Seán had recently completed The Mongrel, and I was in the process of writing “The Nawie”. After following each other’s progress, supporting each other along the way, we exchanged our works; Seán sent me an earlier draft of Weeping Season and I sent him my final draft of The Nawie.

Luckily, we both genuinely loved each other’s work and jumped at the chance to endorse the other’s work. I have a strong gut-feeling that the Weeping Season is going to be a springboard for Seán to bring his work to a much larger audience. It’s that good! Do yourself a favor and pre-order it now through the link below.

I had a chance recently to present Seán with a list of questions, many of which were taken from an interview I did with my wife Charlotte about her writing career and history, and below are his intriguing and personal answers.

1. What’s the first story you ever wrote?

I made a few failed attempts at creative writing as a teenager and put together some scraps of a few stories that never went anywhere. At the time, I didn’t have the skillset or read enough fiction, but to answer the question, it was a piece of flash fiction set in the X-Files universe. It was awful and thankfully got lost when my old laptop bit the dust.

2. Where did your love of reading come from? 

I suppose it’s always been there. As a kid, I loved Roald Dahl. As a young teenager, it was all about Goosebumps, and then when I was in my late teens, Stephen King. I was also lucky enough to grow up in a house where creative things were celebrated, such as books, music and films, so I reckon my love for books all stemmed from that.

3. When was the moment you knew that you wanted to become a writer?

Without sounding cheesy, but I think I always was a writer – I just didn’t have the tools to be able to write. Daydreaming was a big part of my school years, as well as wandering off on my own tangents. For a long time I didn’t pursue any writing out of fear of judgment. I only gained confidence to chase my writing goals in the last few years.

4. What project made you feel like, ‘yeah, I can do this professionally’?

It wasn’t one of my projects that made me think that. A few years ago, I went on a serious reading binge, and after reading some novels by Adam Nevill and Tim Lebbon made me feel like, “You know what? I think I could write something to the same standard as this.” I actually started talking to them through social media and was shocked at their willingness to advise me on my work. I’m forever grateful for this, as it allowed me to push through a confidence barrier and start getting some of my manuscripts ready for publishing.

5. Who was your earliest influence as a writer (doesn’t have to be ‘a writer’)?

Again without sounding cheesy or wannabe poetic, but most things in my daily life influence my writing.

The little instances that occur are like sand that get formed into pearls.

There is always something to look at, analyze and see if it can be worked into a piece of fiction.

6.  Who is your favorite author now? And why? 

My favorite author is and will probably always be: Cormac McCarthy.

He is a writer that dances to his own tune. Doesn’t have a large bibliography, doesn’t have a social media presence, doesn’t need to market himself and rarely does interviews. He is pretty much Off-The-Grid and this is the dream! Combine this with the fact that he is an amazing writer and I’m in fan-boy heaven.

7. What book emotionally moved you the most?

The Road, by Cormac McCartney.

For two reasons… When I first read the book, I was in my late teens and it hit me hard and made me think about my father and my relationship with him – I was the boy during the first read.

When I read it a second time after I became a father myself, it hit even harder as I fully understood the father-son relationship that McCartney laid down. It is such a harrowing story and really takes decision making to a whole new level that I hope I never have to face in the future.

8. What’s the funniest book you’ve ever read?

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle. As a born and bred Dubliner, it doesn’t get better than this and I think must Dubliners will agree with me.

The film is just as good.

9. What’s the scariest book you’ve ever read? 

I’d probably give that title to 1984 by George Orwell. Simply because the real world seems to be following that piece of fiction as if it where some sort of guidebook. It makes me fear what is to come and what world my son has to grow up in.

10. Who inspires you as a writer?

I believe I answered this with question five.

11. Who, outside of the world of writing, inspires you and why?

I’m a big music fan. Especially the genres of Doom and Black Metal. Both genres have music that is emotionally charged, heavy, dark and makes for a good soundtrack in my life.

12. If you were stranded in Antarctica for the next 20 years and you could only have one book with you, which would it be? 

I would imagine it being one of the best rated Antarctic survival guidebooks? Something to do with Shackleton or Tom Crean?

At least that would give me a shot at lasting 20 years down there…

13. What comment would please you most from one of your readers about your work? 

I would be happy with international readers being intrigued by stories set in Ireland. If I ever received a comment from a reader saying that they intended to visit this island after reading some of my work, then that would please me very much.

14. If you could be anything you wanted to, besides being an author, what would it be and why? 

At the moment, nothing.

I’m happy being a family man with a writing hobby on the side.

15. If you could co-write a book with any author alive, who would it be? 

No one. I write for me and it’s my escape from everyday life.

Playing with others means rules, deadlines and possible arguments that would create stress that I don’t need.

That said, if Cormac McCartney came knocking, I wouldn’t say no.

But, I’d probably end up putting his dialogue into speech bubbles…

16. What makes you happiest about the entire process of writing? 

First draft fever.

The first draft of anything I write is for me. I have fun with it. I drink, laugh, cry and write without care.

I bounce off my muse and allow myself to get lost in the creative flow state.

17. What is success to you?

To someday live off my craft would be nice, but I doubt that’ll ever happen in today’s world.

18. A good horror genre death can be hard to write. How did you get in touch with your inner murderer to write the dark parts of this book?

I don’t really dive into my “inner” places for this. Human history and events that happened in the past are enough to fuel any piece of death in fiction.

No matter how shocking a writer tries to be with hers/his fiction, there is always something in the real world that is more horrific in my opinion.

When I’m reading one of my favorite publications like Sight & Sound, I’m always drawn to the interviews. Even if I don’t know the artist, I enjoy getting to know them through the insight a good interview can provide. Getting to read Sean’s responses to my question provided that and more, and I thank him for his time and honesty.

Check him out at seanoconnor.org and pre-order his novel, Weeping Season. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed by this gripping and twisted, dark horror novel.

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